If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I do not believe the was any way for us to get Rondo. He has two years left on his contract at about $12M and then $13M. That is about $1M a year more than Bargnani. No one wanted Bargnani at his salary and Toronto was anxious to dump him. Most "pundits" believe we were taken by Totonto's front office. I hate giving up draft choices, particularly when it may have been unnecessary, but perhaps Bargnani will get new life with the Knicks.

Rondo has value. The Celtics were not going to take Chandler and any package with Shumpert would either be too little to compensate for Rondo's salary or of no value for the Celtics. They were not going to take Novak and Camby. In any event, I do not want to lose Shumpert, Rondo is still a trade chip for the Celtics. They will get value for him.

Melo has to know that our cap situation handcuffs us and that Rondo was unrealistic. There have been rumors -- Stephen A, for example -- that Melo may want to move West to LA where apparently LaLa is happier. Melo has two more years if he plays out his contract, but he has an option after next year, When we finally have cap space two years from now we could well have under contract only JR, Felton, Shumpert, Hardaway, Jr., Leslie and whatever draft pick we have for 2015. I do not believe that year is a strong free agent year. What is going to keep Melo in New York if he is anxious to win a title?

Yep. I didn't even wanna touch the fact that we used the amnesty provision on Billups with one year left on his deal, when pretty much the whole world was screaming "STAT's knees!!!! HIS KNEESSS!!!!!!!!"

Just screams of a team with no real plan. Everything seems to be reactionary, which means you're waiting for someone else to make the first move, then counter. That would be wise if the FO made shrewd moves, but...yea..

I'm in no way, shape, or form, saying we could have landed Rondo. But the trade for Bargs seemed so premature. If I'm coupling a 1st round pick with a player(s), it's not gonna be in a deal with Camby and Novak to get a player who's going to be cut. The thinking that maybe he can be moved in a subsequent trade to GSW involving Lee isn't enough for me to forgo seeing if that pick can be packaged with Tyson and/or Shump to see if we can land a star talent, and who that talent might be. THEN if the deals aren't quite right, or doable, then Bargs is plan-B or C. But it looks like he was plan-A, and that might be the ****tiest plan-A ever devised when you're going to have to convince one of the best talents in the NBA to stay put.

The worst part of the Billups amnesty is WE PICKED UP HIS OPTION!! WHY IN THE FVCK WOULD WE DO THAT THEN AMNESTY HIM.

Billups contract for that year was partially guaranteed so in order to bring in Chandler they needed to get his entire salary of the books. But I agree, amnestying Stat would have made more sense. They could have still brought in Chandler and kept Billups.

Will Anthony take the next step?

Anthony had arguably the best season of his career last year, winning the scoring title for the first time in his career...

The question shouldn't be can he repeat, but can he be even better???

With Jason Kidd now retired and coaching the Nets, Anthony will need to show he can apply the lessons he learned playing next to Kidd without the veteran's presence on the roster... Kidd got Anthony to buy into the team concept more than ever and the Knicks supporting cast of shooters was able to space the floor for Anthony, allowing him to dominate defenders one-on-one as he proved willing to find open shooters when double-teamed...

If Anthony can take the next step and become even more of a leader and team player, the Knicks have a shot to surprise the Eastern Conference this season... If he regresses to the old Anthony or even stays at the level he played at last season, there may be another first-round exit in his and the Knicks' future...

I know most of you guys think he will either regress or flat out tank the season, but I still want to hear your thoughts on this question...

Melo P&R Potential

Melo has stated that he wants to play more off the P&R, as quoted below in an interview with another of BSPN's bumbling idiots, Jared Zwerling.

"I want to continue doing that (P&R) and figuring that part out, but that comes along with the territory and the game situation. It's all about just trying to tighten up those screws that you already have, and just having fun with it."

So I thought I'd have fun with the potential outcome, by throwing together some footage of Melo in 3 separate parts of his offensive game: Passing/assists, Driving/P&R, Power + Strength.

The pick-and-roll demands versatility to be effective, and Melo's impressive offensive spread of shooting, passing, quickness, strength, footwork, put-backs and an array of moves, not to mention his advantage against bigs on switches () makes for a tantalizing prospect.

Let's take a look at these 3 different (in some ways the same) offensive facets as food for P&R thought.

Assists: 171 Total on the season, 2.6 APG.

Very few of these assists were P&R initiated, as you no doubt noticed. But this video is evidence of Melo's ability to make the right pass at the right time. Clearly, though, he sees the floor better when stationary.

Still, the thought of Melo playing more as a P&R facilitator gets all the more encouraging, doesn't it? He's a highly capable passer, and, needless to say, is the focus of any opponent's defense as a scorer. The passing lanes will be open for Melo. That'll be a learning curve.

12-13 Assists break down - not a necessary read for those that aren't number buffs.

● 38% of Melo's dimes were to interior players. The rest were split between 3 point shooters, Particularly JR Smith (29) and Felton (25).

● Who were the next 2 most prolific receivers on the Melo Dimes List? Tyson Chandler (22) and Amar'e Stoudemire (19). Which, if you consider the fact that Melo and STAT only played just over 20 games together, is interesting. Cooking up dreams of these 2 finally playing well together, however, is fool's gold. With STAT's minutes restricted, it's as good as (though less likely than) a fart in a breeze.

● Of those total 171 season assists, 70 of them came in the first quarter of games. As we saw all season, the Knicks came out hot often, but cooled down (sometimes to the point of freezing) throughout the second and 3 quarters of games.

● In games where the winning margin, win or lose, was less than 5 points, Melo had 86 dimes, a margin of 6 to 10 points 51 dimes, and upward of 10 points 37 dimes.

● Melo had 0 assists in 7 games last season. The Knicks W/L tally for those games, 6-1. That one loss was a 29 point flogging from the GSW in Oakland.

● Games in which Melo threw 5+ assists, the Knicks won .700 of their games. 10-3.

Of all players that drove the ball a minimum of 40 times in camera recorded games last season, Melo was the league's most efficient. On plays featuring a Carmelo Anthony drive, the Knicks averaged 1.66 points per possession - from 20 feet out to 10 feet in - at any point in each individual possession.

However, in this sample size, Melo only tallied 3.1 drives per game. A mark equivalent to that of Chandler Parsons and Chicago's Luol Deng. Comparatively with loftier peers, Kevin Durant averaged 3.6 DPG, and Paula Pierce 3.7. Starting PGs average between 33-50% DPG.

In 2012-2013, Melo chalked up 10.6 percent of his shots as the pick-and-roll ball handler. It was a particularly potent offensive go-to, as he shot .479 from the field and dropped an impressive 1.07 points per possession.

In contrast, Melo took up the following numbers offensively:

Isolation, 27.1% - Post up, 20.8% - Spot up 14.6%.

That 10.6% of shots off P&R is almost 3% up from previous seasons throughout his career, and you've gotta wonder if it'll continue to rise in 2013-2014.

Here are references to his shooting, as well, to indicate his preferred places to initiate offense for himself.

Shot Distribution:

☆ One thing you could say goes against him as a P&R player from the above numbers is the pull up %. These shots would become available even more so through P&R, so he'd want to hit them at a better clip.

Here we see Melo in all his brutish glory. Sadly, however, sourcing reliable statistics for this was basically useless. But the plays speak for themselves when you consider them as part of a P&R scenario.

The theme here is that Melo, as a top isolation player, has stated that he wants more out of the pick-and-roll. More P&R = more decision making, especially in comparison to that of his isolation game.

But as we've seen since he's been here, a Carmelo Anthony led offense, which it will be even more for the Knicks than it already is if Melo as P&R ball handler becomes staple, leaves very little room for error from his teammates as well as himself.

The dude is an amazing player. But he's a scorer first, there's no denying it. In a perfect world the P&R should elevate his game, would elevate his game.

Personally I'd love to see it happen.

So that's it. Food for thought, numbers and videos. Something to get us all through this BS offseason. As of this very instant, there are 44 days, 21 hours to go until preseason tip off against the laughable Celtics.

kiya needs to watch this. he always says iso melo as if the isolation offense was invented by him... if he looks he can realize that most of his assists are coming directly from the same offense he rips apart. but people are cutting and slashing and balancing the floor around where he moves. when his beloved role players stopped cutting and standing around it makes it look like melo is just jacking but its not his fault they stopped moving around. melo is a terrific passer(not floor general and all that)but if youre open he will find you.

Melo is just using his cap when he says he wants to run more PnR, the 3 pt shot and jump shot can come and go, just ask Novak who went from 1st in the league in 3pt shooting in 2011 to 11th in 2012. If you want consistency and chances at scoring titles every year you have to use a high percentage staple like the PnR to get your points.

kiya needs to watch this. he always says iso melo as if the isolation offense was invented by him... if he looks he can realize that most of his assists are coming directly from the same offense he rips apart. but people are cutting and slashing and balancing the floor around where he moves. when his beloved role players stopped cutting and standing around it makes it look like melo is just jacking but its not his fault they stopped moving around. melo is a terrific passer(not floor general and all that)but if youre open he will find you.

u joking right ....

I doubt, Kiya is interested in a nonleadership ISO-Melo best u-tube P&R highlights are practically all in the first quarter of the game. Now u know why ISO-Melo rarely gets highlights on ESPN and NBA TV
Low-Low IQ ISO-Melo as a P&R player .... LMAOHint: Birdman scored more points off of P&R in one season in Miami, than he did in all 3 to 4 seasons with Melo in Denver. I dont think ISO-Melo 2 seasons with Tyson Chandler, can compare with the Tyson & Linsanity 3 months of P&R and relentless TEAM-DEFENSE. P.S. Melo's selfishness never took advantage of having some of the leagues best P&R players on the roster lastseason in "Camby, Rasheed, Kurt, Amare, K-Mart, and Tyson".